Last week saw the first Union Council of the 2019/20 academic year take place, welcoming the newly elected Part-Time Officers and School Reps, as well as co-opting students into remaining roles that weren’t filled during the Student Elections earlier in the month.
The Union Council is in place to set the political/campaign direction of the Students’ Union, and thus make important decisions that affect the student body. Its members ensure that the wide diversity of the student body is fairly represented in these decisions. Discussions at this meeting ranged from Students’ Mental health, to STEM Ambassador training for budding student engineers.
Co-opted positions:
- Representative for the School of Biomedical Sciences
Janson Yuen was co-opted to the role of School of Biomedical Sciences Representative with Union Council members voting 19 to 0 in their favour.
- Representative for the Institute of Education
Emma Quinn was co-opted to the role of Institute of Education Representative with Union Council members voting 19 to 0 in their favour.
- Transgender & Non-Binary Officer
Mike Jones was co-opted to the role of Transgender & Non-Binary Officer with Union Council members voting 16 to 0 in their favour.
- Mature Students' Officer
This role was contested, with Louise Crichton being co-opted to the role of Mature Students' Officer with Union Council members voting 11 to 6 in their favour.
- Welfare Officer
Alex Butters was co-opted to the role of Welfare Officer with Union Council members voting 17 to 0 in their favour.
Positions Still Available
- Postgraduate Officer
- Faith & Belief Officer
- Disabled Students' Officer
- Plymouth Business School Representative
- School of Nursing and Midwifery Representative
- School of Psychology Representative
- Peninsula Medical School Representative
- School of Biological & Marine Sciences Representative
- School of Geography, Earth & Environmental Sciences Representative
The process for being appointed to these roles is co-option. The existing Union Council members, who are elected student representatives, can appoint/elect representatives to be a member of Union Council. You can view the role descriptions for the Part Time Officer roles, and the School Representative roles, here and here respectively.
If you do wish to be co-opted, you will need to submit a manifesto to the SU Student Voice Team, by Wednesday 13th November. Full details on how to write a manifesto can be found here. If your manifesto is satisfactory, you will then need to attend the next Union Council meeting and give a short speech, up to one minute, about why you think you would make a good representative. You will then be asked to leave the room whilst the Union Council vote via show of hands. If you'd like to find out more please get in touch with the Student Voice team.
Accountability Board Members cannot be co-opted. If you wish to fulfill the role of Accountability Board Member or of Accountability Board Chair, then please get in touch with the Student Voice team.
Upcoming Union Council Meetings:
- Tuesday 19th November, 17:30 – Babbage 406 (Deadline for Papers = Tuesday 5th November)
- Thursday 23rd January, 17:30 – Babbage 411 (Deadline for Papers = Thursday 9th January)
- Tuesday 25th February, 17:30 – Location TBC (Deadline for Papers = Tuesday 11th February)
- Thursday 30th April, 17:30 – Location TBC (Deadline for Papers = Thursday 16th April)
Find out more about Union Council and how it exists to give you, as a University of Plymouth student, the opportunity to shape your student experience here.